Final Fantasy VII
by SenseofDecay
Summary: K, crap title, but it's just the storyline of the game, with different characters. Better explanation inside
1. AVALANCHE

**_AN: K, I don't own the FFVII characters (summat the characters should be grateful for pmsl), nor the storyline, yadda yadda yadda and I'll be updatin this every Wednesday. What I'm actually doin with this fanfic is, basically the plot of the game, but I changed the characters to people that I know and speak to. Most of the dialogue is pretty much like it is in the game, but there will be errors (which suits me cos I didn't want it to be exact anyway), so please don't expect it to be 100 percent perfect, if you're a FFVII expert! Anyway, enough gassing, on with the fic lol_**

A dark night, the stars shining out, glowing brightly, causing a huge contrast with the pitch black sky. Large threads of neon green strands of some strange substance, which seemed to be neither liquid nor gas floated up towards the twinkling stars, with a few smaller strands of the same substance, but blue, and a few shining green orbs hovering with them.

The threads entangled amongst themselves, before trying to untie, the overall effect looking like a glowing cobweb in the air. The green and blue threads dissipated, leaving the small orbs just hanging in the air, swirling around in small circles, resembling a group of flies buzzing about.

A woman was crouching in a street, looking at a building wall, mesmerised by the luminous green ball of energy stuck in a niche. She stared at it fixedly, the smaller green orbs flying lazily out, past her head and into the road behind her. She slowly stood up, clasping her hands together. A wicker basket was hanging from her right arm, filled with flowers. She looked to her left, and then started to walk down the road of the slums she was in, coming to a stop when she reached a junction, cars zipping past both left and right. There were a few cautious, or perhaps careless people walking in the middle of the road, not seeming to care about the vehicles that were thundering along.

* * *

A large city, completely circular in shape, with a long support tower directly in the centre, where a large plate was attached, eliminating the view of the sky to the people below, in the slums. The enormous city was split into eight sections. Each section had a large reactor, emitting vast amounts of fluorescent green smoke into the air, from their bases at the very edges of the city. Train wheels locked as the driver pressed on the brakes. Sparks shot off the wheels as it came to a grinding halt, a horrible screeching noise of metal on metal sounding from the wheels and the tracks. It came to a safe stop at one of the sector's train stations, as a figure appeared on the roof of the train. He leapt off, a magnificent and huge sword flailing in his right hand. It made a deafening _clang_ as it struck the concrete pavement. He hauled himself back upright, not so much as staggering in the slightest against the weight of the heavy weapon he held easily in one hand.

The figure was dressed from head to foot in black. Black clothing, black armour. He had large, heavy duty gloves on his hands, and also arms. The slightest bit of colour on his was the belt that reached around his waist, and then fastened over his shoulders and at the back, almost like braces. It was fitted over a dark sleeveless turtleneck top. His trousers were large and very baggy, the bottoms of the legs tucked into thick brown boots.

The sword he carried in his hands, his pride and joy, the Buster Sword, had a very unusually thick blade, with a slim wooden handle, which seemed to be too thin to support the weight of the heavy steel. There were two holes that had been drilled into the blade. The blade itself was not only thick, but also very long, and reached a point near the tip that slanted off to the right.

He had long, blonde hair, which had been styled into spikes. They stuck out on all sides of his head, moving slightly every time he made the slightest movement of his head. He had shocking bright blue eyes. They appeared to be glowing.

He looked back as four more figures exited the train behind him. The only female of the group and one of the other men ran forwards, to knock out the two guards that had given the man wielding the Buster sword strange looks. The guards fell down to the ground, unconscious, only seconds later. The other two remaining men also started to walk past. The one that was clearly the leader shot a glance at the Buster sword, and the person holding it.

'C'mon, new comer. Follow me,' he grunted, in a deep and gruff voice.

The other four ran off, away from the unconscious guards, leaving the 'newcomer' on his own to walk at a casual pace. He stopped at the out-cold guards, and rummaged around in their uniforms. He found two Potions.

_Those'll come in use for later,_ he thought to himself, and pocketed them.

He walked through a doorway, and saw the women and two men working at a locked gate. The gang's leader was nowhere to be seen. One of the men, who had long dark hair that flopped down over a red headband turned back to look at him. When he spoke, his voice was full of awe.

'Wow!' he gasped, 'you used to be in SOLDIER, alright. It ain't everyday you find one of 'em in a group like AVALANCHE.'

The ex-SOLDIER rolled his eyes sarcastically as the woman cast him a suspicious look.

'SOLDIER?' she repeated, her voice sounding thoughtful. 'Aren't they the enemy? What's _he_ doing with _us?'_

'Whoa, hold it Jessie,' replied the man, in a soothing voice. 'He _used_ to be in SOLDIER. He quit, and he's one of us now.' He cast the silent figure a look. 'Didn't catch your name.'

'...James,' he replied, after a moment of hesitation.

'Cool, James, eh? I'm -'

'I don't care what your name is,' snapped James, interrupting callously. 'As soon as this job's over, I'm outta here.'

At that moment, the leader of the small group AVALANCHE came thundering over. James could practically feel the ground shaking under the running feet.

The leader of AVALANCHE was a large, well muscled black man, with black hair and beard. He wore a military style name tag around his neck. He wore an open brown jacket, revealing his muscular chest. The area where the sleeves should have been were fraying; it looked like the sleeves had been pulled clean off. He wore black trousers supported by a belt, as well as what looked to James to be two strips of steel around his waist. The leader's boots were even bigger and chunkier than James', but the same colour. The leader's right hand had been replaced with a gatling gun. He carried the air of the ever angry, and snapped at the three working on the gate.

'The hell are you doing?' he snarled at them, 'I thought I told you _never_ to move around in a group! What if the enemy had spotted you and taken you _all_ out at once? Fat lot of use you'd be to me then!' He took a calming, cleansing breath. 'Our target's the Northern Mako Reactor. We'll meet on the bridge in front of it.'

The woman known as Jessie managed to get the gate to open, probably slightly out of fear of the leader; the last thing she wanted, like the rest of them, would be for him to have a go at her. They all filed through the gate, but the leader reached it before James did, and shot him a disdainful look.

'Ex-SOLDIER, huh?' he sneered. 'Don't trust ya!'

Without another word, he turned and walked away from James, but not before he got a chance to read the name tag around the leader's neck. It read: BARRET WALLACE.

James followed the others to yet another gate, where the small group were gathered. Jessie and her two male companions were watching Barret carefully. It seemed as though they were waiting for him to say something. Barret kept his dark eyes trained on James as he came closer. James stared back at him, matching perfectly the look of dislike.

'Yo!' called Barret, still staring intently at James. 'This your first time in a reactor?'

'No,' replied James wearily. He spoke as though trying to explain something to a slow minded toddler. ''Cause after all, I _did_ work for Shinra.'

Barret's face scrunched up in mild anger at the mention of Shinra. Despite he thought he was about to tell James things that he already know, Barret still launched into the lecture he had waiting to be said.

'This planet's full of Mako energy, an' people here use it everyday. It's like the lifeblood of the planet...but Shinra...But Shinra keeps suckin' the lifeblood out with these weird machines,' he said, gesturing around him.

'I'm not here to be lectured,' retorted James, coolly. 'Let's just hurry it up.'

This angered Barret who pointed at James aggressively and yelled 'Right, that's _it!_ You're comin' with me!' Jessie made her way to the door, and punched a code into the security dial at one side. She worked for a minute, not once taking her eyes off the nine buttons in front of her. At last, she got it open.

'Code deciphered,' she announced.

They walked through the door, except for the one man that James noticed had not said a word yet. He just stood by the dial Jessie had put the code into. Jessie, Barret, James, and the one that had questioned him about his name made their way over to a second door. This time it was the nameless man's turn to put in a code. Like Jessie, when he put it in correctly, he announced 'Code deciphered'. James saw that this second door was the door to an elevator.

James and Barret entered, whilst James pressed the buttons to go to a lower level. Barret seemed ready to continue his lecture. James still did not want to hear it.

'Li'l by li'l the reactors'll drain out all of the life, an' then that'll be that.'

James shrugged.

'I don't care, it's not my problem.'

'The planet's dyin', James!' exclaimed Barret, seemingly appalled by James' lack of interest. James merely shrugged again.

'The only..._only_ thing that _I_ care about is finishin' this job and gettin' the hell outta here before security and the Roboguards come,' he replied, his voice flat, bored.

Barret angrily drew in a sharp breath, appearing to be holding onto a violent burst of expletives that he would like nothing more than to fire at the uncaring man he was working with. The elevator had reached their destination, and they exited. James followed Barret through the many passageways, over high rails, clambering up ladders, jumping over small gaps above a distressingly distant ground. At last they reached the reactor.


	2. The Reactor

The pair approached it cautiously, walking side by side.

'When we blow this place up, the reactor ain't gonna be nothin' more than just a hunka junk,' stated Barret in his deep voice. 'James, you can set the bomb.'

'Shouldn't _you_ do it?' inquired the blonde, casting Barret a half interested gaze.

'Jus' _do it!_ I gotta stand here an' watch you. To make sure you don't pull nothin',' Barret nastily shot back.

'Fine, be my guest.' James' voice was as cold as ice.

He took the bomb from Barret, and made his way closer to the reactor, still feeling the leader's eyes burning into him. There was a small green sphere on the ground, which he showed Barret, before pocketing. He stopped before it, staring up. It was very tall. He looked back down to the bottom of the reactor, feeling that Barret was more than likely going to have a go at him if he just spent his time gaping at the base. He reached out, the bomb in his hands...

_Watch out! This is not just a reactor!_

James clasped a hand to his head, nearly dropping the bomb. He was tempted to call out 'Who said that?' but he could already guess by the way that Barret had not said anything, that the warning voice he had just heard was in his head. His breathing had risen slightly as he panicked. He had come close to dropping the bomb, but thankfully had managed to keep a tight hold onto it.

'What's wrong?' came Barret's voice. _Maybe he did hear it,_ thought James.

'...Huh?'

'What's wrong, James? Hurry it up, we ain't got all day!'

James apologised, without any meaning, snarling under his breath. He activated the bomb, leaving it firmly in place at the base of the reactor. He straightened up, and ran back to Barret, who was looking at something high up above their heads.

'Look out...here they come...'

The reactor's security dropped down from above them in the form of a giant Roboguard, shaking the bridge dangerously as it landed. The metal it was made of was a dark orange red colour. It was in the shape of a scorpion, and even had a scorpion's tail curled over it, pointing at Barret and James.

The Guard Scorpion seemed to have only a limited amount of attacks. Every time either James or Barret attacked it, the Scorpion would retaliate with raising one mechanical leg and taking a large swipe at one of the pair.

Emerald green flames surrounded James, as he flailed his Buster sword around him. He slid it back over his shoulder and raised his hands in the direction of the Guard Scorpion. Almost instantaneously, a bolt of lightning shot out of what appeared to be nowhere and seared through the Scorpion. James took a step back as Barret jumped forwards. He raised his gunarm, and shot a few bullets at the Scorpion.

The pair continued using the same attacks on the Guard Scorpion, which seemed to be quite effective, until it raised its sting tail higher, and started to tremble slightly.

James held his hand out to Barret, to signal him not to make another move.

'Don't attack!' he cried out.

'Why the hell not?' demanded Barret.

'Don't attack it whilst the tail is up like that, otherwise it'll retaliate with its laser from the sting,' explained James.

Barret cast James an odd look, but decided not to risk finding out for himself whether the ex-SOLDIER was right. Instead, he fished around in his pockets for a Potion, and pulled the lid off, throwing the other part at James' feet.

Light green sparkles dropped out of the air onto his head, resting for a fraction of a second on his body, before dissolving into nothingness. James did the same thing to Barret, both of their diminished health restored by the Potions.

After a few minutes, the Scorpion's tail lowered again, but still pointing at them, and it stopped trembling.

'Is it safe to attack it again now?' asked Barret, half sarcastically.

James nodded. He took a step forwards and once more brandished his Buster Sword in front of him. Another blast of lightning struck the Guard Scorpion, the electricity searing through all the metal in its being, almost destroying it in one go. Barret shot at it again, noticing its weakened state.

'Use a couple more Bolt spells!' ordered Barret, 'I'll stay back and let you do your stuff. Just finish it off!'

'Yes sir,' replied James, half scathingly.

The large Scorpion took a step forwards and turned, swinging the robotic tail and sting at James, crashing directly into him. He staggered back, one hand clasped to his chest, just about keeping his balance. His head had snapped back from the force of the blow that was landed on him.

'Ugh, to hell with this,' muttered James to himself.

He stroke forwards again, waving the Buster Sword, and struck the metal of the Scorpion's mechanical legs in one heavy swipe. He jumped back, out of the way before the Scorpion could try and fight back.

'What the hell d'you think you're doin'?' asked Barret, casting him an odd look.

'Just attack it normally, don't bother with magic,' said James, 'no point in wasting time trying to be fancy, when your gunarm and my Buster Sword will easily dispose of it.'

'Hell, don't worry 'bout me usin' magic,' said Barret to himself, 'can't.'

The pair both stabbed and shot and struck whatever part of the Scorpion they could for a few more minutes, both still uneasily aware of the fact that the timer on the bomb James had planted was still ticking.

As James withdrew from another attack, the Guard Scorpion fell down on the ground, dead. James turned to Barret.

'Come on, let's get the hell outta here!' exclaimed James.

The pair turned on their heels and ran, fleeing for their lives before the bomb would detonate. Barret arrived at a small gap that needed to be jumped, and then walked swiftly over the marrow ledge, not thinking of what was underneath, and then turned to his right, and continued on the path out of the reactor. James, on the other hand, after reaching the same point where Barret turned off, he thought he saw something, or somebody on the left. He looked, and saw Jessie, on the floor, her leg trapped.

'What are you doing here? You were meant to be by the first door!' muttered James.

'We swapped. Please, help me, I can't get free!'

James knelt down beside her and pulled her leg free. She stood up, and made her way past him, turning back, and muttering 'thanks', before running out. James wondered how much time they had left, and dashed after her.

They made their way to the lift again, Barret evidently been waiting for both Jessie and James. They came out again, Jessie running ahead of the two males, to decipher the code for the security doors. Her friend with the floppy hair, however, got there first.

'Code deciphered!' he called across to her, urging her and the other two to hurry up.

'Thanks Biggs, nice one,' she replied, smiling.

Biggs, Jessie, Barret, James and the other man all sprinted as fast as they could manage, getting closer and closer to the exit of the reactor. James knew that their time was running out fast.

The metal grating bridge trembled and shuddered as five pairs of feet made their way rapidly over it. They turned, and left the reactor. Jessie fell down, in front of James, who grabbed her arms and pulled her out.

There was an deafening explosion, as a huge fireball came roaring out from the exploding reactor. James just managed to pull Jessie and catch up with the others just in time, before being burnt horribly.

They found themselves at a dead end, with only a gate to get through, but it was jammed shut. Jessie stepped forwards as Barret started to speak.

'That should keep the planet goin', at least for a li'l while longer, anyway.'

'Yeah,' replied the nameless man.

James shot him a look.

'What is your name, anyway?'

'Who, me?'

'No, the giant Moogle behind you,' retorted James, with huge sarcasm.

'Wedge.'

Jessie pushed her way past the men and made her way over to the blocked gate. She was carrying another bomb, and warned them all to stay back. Once everybody was all safely out of the way, she detonated it. There was a small explosion, just enough for the gate to swing open. They all went through, when they were addressed by Barret again.

'Alright, now let's get the hell outta here. Rendezvous at Sector 8 Station!' he was met with four blank faces. 'Split up and get on the train!'

Biggs, Wedge, Jessie and Barret started to make their ways off, when James called out to the group's leader.

'H-hey!'

Only Barret stopped at James' cry. He sighed impatiently and snapped 'if it's about your money, then wait until we're back at the hideout!'


	3. Flower Girls and Railing Systems

James started to follow Barret, but then took a different route, and walked along on his own, down the streets. It was practically deserted, except for one person, who was coming over to him. A simple flower girl. Dressed in pink with light brown hair and sparkling green eyes which were looking intently at him.

'What's happened?' asked the flower girl, tentatively.

'Nothin',' replied James, not wanting to give anything away. 'Hey...'

She stared at him. James felt momentarily uncomfortable, but decided that he ought to say _something_.

'...Don't see many flowers 'round here,' he mumbled.

The flower girl brightened up and motioned to the wicker basket over one arm.

'Oh, these? Do you like them? They're cheap, only one gil...?' her voice wavered off, in a question.

James fished in his pockets and pulled out a small silver coin, and handed it to the flower girl, who seemed delighted. She enthusiastically thanked him, and handed him a beautiful red rose.

'Here you are!'

James took it from her and was about to say goodbye, when he heard the sound of guards calling to him. They were guards in the enemy, Shinra's defence group, SOLDIER. James took off, leaving them in the distance, trying to make his way to the Sector 8 Station.

He saw a few more, and changed his direction. He looked to his right. There were the train tracks. He had probably already missed the train that he was meant to be catching. There were guards in front of him. There were guards behind him. There were guards on his left. He was completely surrounded, and there were too many to fight. They came closer, closing in the gap when James took off to his right, and made a gigantic leap onto the train tracks...

* * *

Biggs, Wedge, Jessie and Barret were inside the train, all wondering what had happened to James. Barret was in a corner, leaning against a large crate, the others milling around, leaning against the walls, their heads all buzzing with thought. At last, after a few minutes, Wedge spoke up.

'James never came.'

Biggs raised his head.

'Hey, d'you think he got killed? And that's why he ain't here?' he asked.

There was a snort from Barret.

'No way! Kid like him, nah.'

'So...do you reckon that he might stay with AVALANCHE, fight alongside us...til' the end?' Biggs' voice sounded excited. He looked at Barret hopefully.

Barret on the other hand, just slammed his gunarm onto the crate angrily.

'The _hell_ would _I_ know?' he screeched. 'Dammit, do I look like a mind reader? Ha, if only you lot weren't such screw ups!'

'Hey, Barret? What about our money?' asked Wedge cautiously. Barret smashed his gunarm on the crate again. 'Uh, actually, never mind...'

So far, only Jessie had not uttered a single sound. The men failed to notice.

There was a strange noise, coming from outside. It sounded a lot like somebody going 'aaaahhhhhh...'. They all looked up as the carriage doors opened. Nothing happened for a few seconds, until James suddenly came swinging from off the top of the train, into the carriage, and landing unsteadily on his feet in front of Barret, who jumped out of his skin.

_'James!'_ yelled Biggs and Wedge. Jessie had also cried out his name when he entered, but she only said it as a whisper. It went unheard from the shrieks of the two men.

James dusted himself off, grinning to himself.

'It looks like I'm a little bit late, don't it?'

'You're goddamn right you're late! Jus' comin' in here, makin' a huge scene, scarin' several goddamn years outta my life,' spat Barret.

James merely gave another one of his shrugs and said 'hey, it's no big deal, just what I _always_ do.'

'Shit! You were havin' everyone worried 'bout ya, and you don't give so much as the smallest damn 'bout no-one but yerself!'

'Huh...you were worried about me?'

'Wha...' started Barret, dumbfounded by James' attitude, 'I'm takin' that outta your money, hot stuff!' he yelled at the others. _'Wake up, you lazy lot!_ We're gettin' out, so follow me!'

He stormed off to the next carriage, leaving the rest to congratulate and just generally speak to James. They all seemed to have been impressed with him setting the bomb down, and wanted to say something to him.

'You were great back there, mate,' grinned Biggs.

'Yeah,' agreed Wedge, 'and we'll do even _better_ next time! Nice one!'

They both followed Barret into the next compartment, just leaving Jessie and James on their own. She turned to look at him, and slowly made her way over.

'Be careful. I'll just shut this,' she said, motioning to the open carriage door. She turned back to him, and looked a bit startled, and giggled. 'Your face is pitch black!'

She made her way back over to him, taking out a cloth, and gently wiping the soot off his face. She smiled at him and thanked him again for helping her get free at the reactor, and then made her way after Biggs and Wedge. James turned around and followed her. He saw that Barret had scared several of the other passengers away in his anger, and was taking up roughly half of the long plastic seats on one side of the carriage.

Jessie had stopped right at the opposite end of the carriage, and was watching as James came closer. When he got close enough, she beckoned him over. He walked over to the machine that she was standing in front of, wondering what it was. She explained that it was a map of the circular city of Midgar's Railing System, and asked if he wanted to look at it with her. He gave a small shrug, indicating that he really did not care. Jessie took his shrug as a 'yes', and launched into a speech about the Midgar Railing System.

'Okay, it's about to start.'

A green image flashed up on the black screen.

'This is a complete model of the city of Midgar, but it's about 1/10000 scale. The top plate is about fifty metres above ground. A main support structure holds the plate up in the centre, and there are _other_ support structures in each of the eight sections.'

Jessie lowered her voice, and moved a bit closer to James.

'The Number One Reactor we blew up was in the northern section,' she whispered. She raised her voice again. 'Then there's number two, number three, all the way up to number eight. These eight reactors provide Midgar with electricity, Mako. Did you know that each of the eight sections used to have a name? They did, but nobody can remember them anymore, so that's how come they're numbered instead. Guess that's just what this place is like.'

Jessie took a deep breath, before continuing.

'Okaaaaay...this is next. Look, that's the route that this train we're riding at the moment is on. We should be heading to the centre area, pretty soon,' she explained, pointing at the green frames. 'Our route spirals around the main support structure. There are a few checkpoints as well, and at each one, there's an ID sensor device set up. It can check the identities _and_ the background of _all_ the passengers on the train, just by linking up to the central data bank at Shinra Headquarters.'

Jessie's voice took on a more bitter tone as she said the company's name. She leant closer again, and whispered to him.

'Anybody could say that we look a bit suspicious, so we're using fake IDs,' her voice raised again as a red light flashed in their compartment. 'Ah, speak of the devil. That light means that we're in the ID Security Check area. When the lights go off, you never know what kinda creeps will come out, anyway, we're almost back now. That's a relief.'

James nodded, and made his way over to Barret, who was casting him a suspicious look. He waved James over, and pointed out of the carriage window, up at what was above them.

'Look, you can see the surface. This city ain't got no day or night. We'd be able to see the sky if that soddin' plate weren't there,' Barret's voice sounded a bit reproachful.

'A floating city,' mused James, 'pretty unsettling scenery.'

Barret seemed surprised. He told James that he did not expect the ex-SOLDIER to come out with a remark like that, and stated that he was 'jes full o' surprises'.

'The 'upper world',' started Barret, referring to the people that lived on top of the plate, 'it's cause of that damn _pizza_ that us underneath are sufferin'! Full of polluted air, _and_ these reactors keep drainin' all the energy.'

'Why doesn't everybody just move onto the plate?'

'Dunno. Expensive probably, 'cause people ain't got any money, or...'cause they love their land, no matter _how_ polluted it gets.'

He did not seem too sure about this second theory. James had his arms crossed over his chest, and nodded his head in agreement.

'Yeah, I know. It's like this train.'

Barret looked at him.

'Nobody lives in the slums because they _want_ to. It's like this train, it can't move anywhere but where the rails take it,' explained James.

The train had started to come to a stop as it reached its destination. Barret stood up and exited, before gathering the small group called AVALANCHE around him. He congratulated them all on successfully completing their mission, but warned them not to start slacking.

'Don't you all be scared of that explosion, yeah? 'Cause the next one's gonna be bigger! Now move out, meet back at the hideout!'

The five went their separate ways, James taking a slow stroll back to the hideout. When he finally got there, he noticed Barret outside the door of a bar. It was named Seventh Heaven. Barret went inside, who instantly managed to scare off all the drinks in there by firing his gunarm wildly around the room.


	4. Amy

The startled regulars fled out of the bar, giving Barret a wide berth and then pushing past James as they ran out. Barret stuck his head out, and called to James.

'You can come in now.'

James pushed open the door of the bar as Barret went outside to watch the drunks that he had chased out. At the bar, there was a young woman in her early twenties, and a small white girl that had suddenly appeared from behind the woman. She hesitated slightly, and then ran over to him, crying 'Papa!'. She stopped in her tracks when she realised that she had seen the wrong person, and then ran back and cowered behind the woman.

'Marlene!' reprimanded the woman. 'Aren't you going to say anything to James?' She turned to him. 'Anyway, it's nice to see you again James. Seems like everything went well. Have you fought with Barret yet?'

James shook his head, and the woman beamed at him.

'That's good. I remember you used to get into fights at the drop of a hat when we were little,' she giggled.

James just shrugged, and then produced the rose that he had bought from the flower girl earlier. Feeling uneasy, and also slightly embarrassed, he handed it over to the woman.

'You don't often see flowers in the slums,' she casually remarked. James physically put it in her hand.

'Amy, it's for you.'

'Oh...you shouldn't have,' replied the woman called Amy, feeling slightly embarrassed.

'It was no big deal,' said James.

'Thank you. Maybe I should fill the bar with flowers,' she mused to herself.

The doors to the bar swung open again, and Barret walked in. The same little girl that had almost attached herself to James' legs earlier went flying at him, clamping onto his leg, whilst shrieking 'Papa, you're home!' Barret reached down and stroked the girl's head, smiling. He straightened up and looked at Amy.

'How did it go?' she asked.

'Great,' replied Barret. He turned to the rest of AVALANCHE, who were sitting, enjoying a drink. 'Get in here. you fools! We're startin' the meetin'!'

Biggs, Wedge and Jessie all leapt out of their seats and made their way over to the pinball machine that Barret was standing near to. James watched as they lined up in front of it, and Biggs gave the machine a heavy smack. like a lift, the pinball machine, and the small section of the floor that the three were standing in lowered, into the AVALANCHE headquarters. A second later, it came up again. James made his way over to it and were lowered into the headquarters with Amy and Barret. They all had their places taken, Barret in the far corner, with Biggs trying to shake him for something. Barret was doing his best to ignore Biggs, but James could tell that he was getting more annoyed with each second. He called James over.

'James...there's somethin' I wanna ask you. Were...were there anyone from SOLDIER fightin' us today?'

'None at all, I swear.'

'You sound pretty sure,' stated Barret coolly.

'Put it this way, if there were, you wouldn't be standing here right now,' replied James sharply.

'Don't think you're so bad jus' 'cause you were in Shinra,' Barret kindly said, casting Biggs a dangerous look.

James did not know how to reply, and chose not to. Barret failed to notice as Biggs got more vigorous, and ended up getting a punch from Barret, which practically threw him across the headquarters. Marlene had suddenly appeared and was cheering on her father for decking Biggs.

'Yeah, you _are_ pretty strong,' said Barret, staring at James. 'Probably all you guys in SOLDIER are.'

Barret pointed a finger at James, as though he had said something wrong.

'But you better remember that you're working ' for AVALANCHE now, an' I don't want you gettin' no ideas 'bout hangin' onto Shinra,' he icily told James.

'Stayin' with _Shinra?_' spat James. He started to go over to Barret. 'Where the hell did you get _that_ idea from? You asked me a question, and I answered it! And now, I'm going upstairs.'

James stopped right in front of Barret, and was not impressed to discover that the AVALANCHE leader towered over him. James had to stand on his toes to get even close to being near Barret's height.

'I want to talk about my money.'

Barret started guffawing to himself, as James made his way back to the pinball machine lift. Amy came dashing over to him.

'Wait!' she cried, grabbing a hold of his arm.

James tried to shake her off, but she would not let go.

'Let go of him,' ordered Barret. 'It looks like our friend here still misses the darling Shinra.'

James, fuming, tried to make his way over to Barret again, with Amy restraining him.

_'Shut up!'_ he yelled. 'I don't give a god_damn_ about Shinra _or_ SOLDIER!' He felt Amy's grasp on his arm loosen slightly. He turned to her. 'But don't get me wrong, please.'

'What?' she asked.

'Don't think that I care about AVALANCHE or the planet, either!' he added, directing his final comment to Barret, who started to pummel a nearby punching bag, to take his mind off his anger.

James stormed off to the pinball machine, not realising that Amy was still on his tail. He was just about to leave the premises, when Amy called out to him.

'Don't go, please. Join us.'

'Sorry...'

'_Please_. This planet is dying. Slowly, yes, but it _is_ dying. Somebody needs to do something.'

'Well then let Barret and that lot do something. It doesn't involve me.'

Amy let out an offended sigh. James turned back to look at her.

'So! You really _are_ leaving! You're just going to go out of that door, and completely turn your back on your childhood friend?'

James seemed completely dumbfounded. He bowed his head and apologised. At this, Amy's manner softened.

'You forgot the promise, too,' she told him.

'...Promise?'

'You _did_ forget, then. Remember...it was about seven years ago...The well. Remember that?'

James nodded.

'I remember now. I was thinking that you were never going to arrive. I was starting to get cold.'

* * *

_A younger James was sitting on the edge of a well, his legs dangling. Occasionally he raised his head, to see if he could spot Amy somewhere. After a few more minutes, there was a tap on his shoulder._

_'I'm sorry I'm late,' Amy told him. James jumped down off the well and stood up in front of her. 'What did you want to talk to me about?'_

_'Later this year, like about springtime, I'm leaving here. I'm going to go to Midgar,' James said bluntly. _

_Amy sighed._

_'All the boys are leaving this town,' she complained._

_'I'm different to all that lot!' he exclaimed, his enthusiasm almost palpable. 'I'm going to join SOLDIER, and I'm going to be the best there is! Just like Sephiroth!'_

_'The Great Sephiroth...' whispered Amy. 'But it's meant to be really difficult to join SOLDIER.'_

_'I guess I won't be coming back here for a while.' Amy was looking thoughtfully at him. 'What?'_

_'If you do well, you'll be in the papers, won't you?'_

_'...Might be. Why?'_

_'Promise me something,' Amy said, starting to get embarrassed. 'If you become really, really famous, and I ever get into a bind...come save me?'_

_'What?'_

_'Oh, you know what I mean, James! If I'm in trouble, then my hero will come along and save me. I want to be able to experience that at least once. Do you understand what I mean now?' James was still hesitating. 'Come on, promise me! Please?'_

_'Okay, okay, I promise.'

* * *

_

'Surely _now_ you remember?' prodded Amy. 'After all, you got what you wanted, and joined SOLDIER. So...you've gotta keep your promise!'

'But Amy...I'm not famous. And I'm not a hero, either. So...I'm sorry, but I can't keep it.'

James turned his back to Amy, and started to make his way to the door again, when Barret came up from the hideout.

'Now wait just a minute, Big Shot! A promise is a promise!'

The ex-SOLDIER stared at Barret. He had been listening into his and Amy's conversation? He watched Barret suspiciously, as he dug into his pocket and pulled put a wad of notes. He threw the wad at James.

'This is my pay? Oh please, don't make me laugh!' scoffed James.

'What?' asked Amy. 'Does this mean...?'

'Have you got the next mission lined up?' demanded James, ''cause if you have, I'll do it for three thousand gil.'

Barret's expression turned to stunned, and he started to resemble a choked chicken. Amy noticed this and grabbed him by his arm, pulling him away out of James' earshot, and whispered furiously at him.

'Come on, we're really struggling for help!' she hissed at him.

'But...that money's meant to be for Marlene's schoolin!' he muttered back.

Amy fixed him with a stony glare. Barret sighed and turned to James.

'Two thousand!'

'Deal.'

Amy gave James a big smile.

'Thanks.'


	5. Hoodlums

The following morning, James took the elevator to the main floor and met up with Barret and Amy, who both looked ready to go.

'Did you sleep well?' she asked him.

'About as well as anybody can, listening to Barret snoring like a chainsaw right next to you,' he replied, scathingly.

'Shhh!' hissed Amy, pointing at Barret, who seemed to be oblivious to James' remark.

He turned around to address them both.

'Right! Our next target's in Sector 5. Head to the station, an' I'll fill you in on the train,' he barked. James and Amy turned to leave. 'Uh, James. I got somethin' I wanna ask you.'

'What is it?' question James, sounding bored.

'I…I don't really know how to use materia. I'll give you that materia you found at the reactor, just tell me how to use it!'

James looked slightly weary for a second. Then he launched into a hurried explanation of using the magical orb. Amy nodded in understanding, but Barret merely looked lost. When James, finished, he said 'Shi -!...What's all this 'it wasn't so hard' crap? I'm completely clueless…'

Without another word, he threw the materia at James, and headed out of the bar after telling his daughter Marlene to watch after the bar. She replied with a cheerful 'okay, good luck!'. James looked at the small orb in his hand. He saw that it was curative magic, and quickly slid it into a spherical slot in the wrist of his glove.

When he and Amy left the Seventh Heaven, she pulled him into all the shops in the hideout's village, Sector 7, and bought more of the small green orbs.

'What about getting a Fire materia?' she asked him.

'Knock yourself out,' replied James shortly. 'Although I can't get an Ice afterwards, unless you have some gil stashed away somewhere.'

'Oh well,' she replied, handing over a number of small silver coins.

They arrived at the Sector 7 train station a few minutes later, with Barret staring at his watch, casting them both impatient looks.

'Sorry,' apologised Amy, when they reached him.

'Two words: women and shopping,' called James. Barret gave him an understanding look as the train they were to be boarding came to a grinding halt.

They got on, and met up with Biggs, Wedge and Jessie. Barret's obvious anger had already started to scare away some of the passengers into other sections of the train, so they were again the only passengers in their carriage.

'_Yo!'_ shrieked Barret, causing everybody remaining in the vicinity to jump. 'This don't look like no private car, so split up!'

The three quickly made their way into the next car, leaving James and Amy with Barret. Barret thought he heard somebody saying 'Oh God, hoodlums again….don't I just have all the luck' sarcastically to themselves, and mistook the voice for either Biggs or Wedge. He threw open the door to the next carriage and yelled 'You say somethin'? I _said_….'you say somethin'? Huh, look at that…it got empty in here all of a sudden.'

He seemed to have only just noticed the depleted number of other passengers. There was a solitary man who had dared to stay near Barret, dressed in a uniform that made him look like some sort of manager.

'What's going on?' he asked, looking at Barret. _'Damn!_ Uh…it's empty….because of guys like you…'

Barret loomed threateningly over the manager, who yelped.

'Did you see the news?' he asked hurriedly. 'That, that group, AVALANCHE, or whatever they're called, they said that there were going to be _more_ bombings! Only….only a devoted employee like me would go to work in this sort of situation!'

The manager failed to notice that he had just made the situation worse for himself. Barret took a step backwards and aimed his gunarm.

'You workin' for Shinra?' he spat.

'I won't give in to violence!' choked the manager. He noticed that Barret was the only one that was not near a seat. 'I'm not giving you my chair, either!'

Barret swore loudly as Amy called out to him. The AVALANCHE leader cursed again.

'You lucky bastard,' he growled at the Shinra manager.

James waited patiently for Amy to calm Barret down and drag him away from the manager. When the manager was out of earshot, James whispered, 'so what's our next target?'

'Damn, man, what are you so calm about? You're bustin' up my rhythm…' muttered Barret.

Their carriage gave a slight jolt.

'Seems like they've finished connecting the cars,' stated Amy. 'We're finally leaving.'

'That's great,' said James sarcastically, 'now, again….what is our next target?'

'Heh, listen to Mr-Serious-About-His-Work, here! Okay, as Jessie probably tol' you, there's a security checkpoint at the top plate. It's checkin' _all_ the trains.'

'And Shinra is very proud of it,' interjected Amy.

'The real problem is…we can't use our fake IDs anymore.' Barret's tone sounded slightly worried.

There was a sound, and then the sound of the conductor rang through the car.

'_Good morning, and welcome to the Midgar lines. The arrival time at Sector 4 will be eleven forty-five.'_

'That means there's….about three minutes until the checkpoint!' exclaimed Amy, quietly.

'Yep,' confirmed Barret. 'So in three minutes, we're jumpin' off this train!'

Amy made her way over to the end of the carriage, where Jessie positioned herself when AVALANCHE went to explode the Sector 8 reactor. She pulled James over with her.

'Come and have a look at this with me. Oh…you look like you've already seen it. Oh well, it doesn't matter.' She giggled. 'It's okay, come a bit closer.'

James resisted rolling his eyes at her and took a small step closer. She beamed at him.

'That's better.'

Before she could say anything else, a bright red light flashed through the entire compartment.

'That's odd,' she mused, 'the security checkpoint was meant to be further down.'

The red light was soon accompanied with a warning siren, as the voice of the conductor yelled once more.

'_Type A security alert! Unidentified passengers confirmed, a search of all cars will be conducted. Repeat, type A security alert! Unidentified passengers confirmed, a search of all cars will be conducted.'_

'What's happening?' cried Amy, sounding shocked.

'The hell is goin' on?' snapped Barret, drowning Amy out.

Jessie came running into their car and made her way over to Barret.

'We're in trouble!' she called.

'I hadn't noticed,' came the retort.

'I'll explain later, you all need to get to the next car, _hurry!_' urged Jessie.

'Damn, someone blew it…'

'_Unidentified passengers located in car one! Preparing for lockdown!'_

'Let's get the hell out of here!' cried Barret, knowing that they had only seconds to get through the doors before they locked.

Barret, James and Amy forced their way through, barging several other passengers out of the way in the process, who looked merely annoyed, whilst the other, unbeaten passengers watched with interest.

'_Car one locked down. Upgrading to level two security.'_

'They're going to lock the door, sir!' called the voice of Wedge, to a passenger who was lingering dangerously close to the door.

'Just run!' screamed Jessie, 'changing to plan two, just _go!'_

'_Unidentified passengers located in car two, preparing for lockdown!'_

With Barret's frustrated cry, Biggs, Wedge, Jessie, James, Amy and Barret forced their way through car two, stamping on people's shoes, and elbowing them out of the way. The group forced their way through, leaving a trail of disgruntled passengers in their wake.

'_Car two locked down. Upgrading to level three security.'_

'Alright, are we in the clear yet?' Barret asked Jessie.

'Not yet,' she replied. 'They're conducting another search.'

'Damn Shinra.'

'If we just move up the train, car by car, then we _should_ hopefully get past it without being caught.'

'_Unidentified passengers moving to front of the train. Currently tracking position.'_

Barret and Jessie ushered their small band of dishevelled people into car four.

'_Car three locked down. Upgrading to level four security.'_

'How many goddamn warnings _are_ there?' screamed Barret, getting more and more frustrated.

They burst into the very front of the train, and James took his first proper look at Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie. He noticed that they had changed their clothing, to look like ticket collectors, so not to arouse suspicion.

'_Car four locked down. Upgrading to maximum security!'_

The doors of the trains were opened. Amy and James stood, watching as they zoomed along the tracks, the wind hard in their faces.

'Okay, we've made it!' announced Barret. 'Come on, this way, let's go, we need to jump out o' here!'

'That's pretty scary,' whispered Amy to James.

'Don't you think it's a bit late to be saying that?' he replied. 'Anyway, what did you come with us for?'

'I don't know…'

'Hey, you two, in case you ain't noticed, there ain't no_ time _for that! Hurry it up!'

'I've made up my mind,' said Amy, determinedly. 'Watch, I'm gonna jump!'

She took in a deep breath, and leapt out of the open door of the train. James tried to catch sight of her, and then turned back to Barret.

'Do you mind if I go first? Or do you want to?'

'A leader always stays until the end,' he said shortly.


	6. Bombing

James threw himself out of the train, and landed painfully on the ground. The motion of him hitting the hard ground caused him to roll over several times uncontrollably. He eventually came to a stop and saw Amy standing by his feet. She helped him up, and the pair went to see if they could find Barret.

'Don't let your guard down 'til we get to the reactor. It's just down this tunnel. Biggs, Wedge an' Jessie have got everything sorted out, so _move_.'

At the end of the tunnel, they noticed that it had been cut off by red laser beams, which crossed over, blocking any way through.

'Those are Shinra's security beams. Don't look like we can go any further,' said James, looking at the beams.

'Don't you dare fall forwards and into 'em,' warned Barret.

'I don't intend to.'

Something caught James' eye. He looked to the left and saw a small hole in the floor. He made his way over to it, and looked down.

'Maybe we can get down using this?'

'You're tellin' _me_ to get down _there?'_ snorted Barret, 'yeah, right. Are you serious about goin' down there just to get under the plate? No way, what are we gonna do?'

'Go down.'

'But damn man, that thing gives me the chills.'

James ignored him and lowered himself into the gap, where he slid down easily. When he reached the bottom, he landed on the ground, and quickly moved out of the way when Amy came tumbling through. They both stood near where they fell through, listening to the sounds of Barret grunting.

'Keep moving. Don't be still, otherwise you'll get stuck,' called up James, grinning at Amy.

Barret's response was incoherent, but loud. James thought he could see a pair of feet kicking frantically, and eventually there was a drawn out scream, and Barret came crashing down to Amy and James' feet. He picked himself back up and dusted himself down, giving James evil looks.

'_Get stuck?'_

'Just thought you ought to know,' James replied calmly, trying to keep a straight face.

After a few minutes of climbing around and searching around, they met up with Jessie. She apologised about the situation on the train.

'I don't know what went wrong with the IDs,' she said.

Barret waved her off.

'Never mind, its over with now.'

They made their way to the reactor's core, where something flashed before James' eyes which brought him to his knees.

* * *

_Amy knelt down on the floor of the reactor, next to the figure of a man, lying down. There was a long bladed sword next to him. She fumbled at his wrist, and failed to find a pulse. His flesh was colder than ice._

'_Papa?' she called, whispering softly to him. She shook him slightly, but there was no reaction. 'Sephiroth! He…he did this to you, didn't he? Sephiroth, Mako reactors, Shinra, SOLDIER…I hate them all!'

* * *

_

James found himself staring at his knees, clasping at his head with throbbing with pain. It was so severe, he was almost blinded. There was a hand on his shoulder, and he forced himself to focus.

'James….are you alright?' It was Amy.

'Amy…' he murmured.

'What?'

'….Nothing. It doesn't matter. Let's get on with what we're meant to be doing.'

Barret passed James another bomb, who, like before set it. The three made their way back outside the reactor, where they saw a surprise.

'C'mon, this way!' ordered Barret, and stopped when he saw what was in front of them. 'Shit! Shinra soldiers? What in hell is goin' on?'

The soldiers surrounded Amy, James and Barret, enclosing them.

'A trap…' uttered James in a low voice.

His attention was drawn back to where they had come from as footsteps sounded. Another figure was walking calmly over to them. He was a fat man, dressed in a red suit, with slicked back blonde hair. He did not think it was possible, but Barret looked deathly pale.

'…Presi….President Shinra?' he gasped.

'Why is the president here?' shot Amy, looking from James to Barret. They both shrugged, but apart from that, gave her no response.

'Hmm, so you all must be that…oh, what was it?

'AVALANCHE,' snapped Barret. 'And don't you forget it! So _you're_ President Shinra?'

'So it would seem.'

'Long time no see, President,' interrupted James, calmly. In the corner of his eye, he could see the AVALANCHE leader giving him a dirty look.

'Long time no -?...Oh, it's you. The traitor. The one that quit SOLDIER and joined AVALANCHE. I knew that you had been exposed to Mako, from the glow in your eyes. Just remind me of your name.'

'James,' he replied.

'Ah yes,' said the President. 'Forgive me for not remembering your name, but I can't be expected to remember the name of everybody, unless you become another Sephiroth. Ah yes, Sephiroth. He was great….perhaps _too_ great.'

'Sephiroth -?' started James, but Barret cut him off.

'Don't give a damn 'bout none of that, 'cause this place is gonna go up with a big _boom_ soon, an' it serves you all right!'

'It seems like such a waste of decent fireworks….just to dispose of vermin like yourselves…' said President Shinra distantly.

'_Vermin?_' choked Barret, 'you Shinra are the vermin, destroyin' the planet with yer damn reactors! So that makes you _King_ Vermin! So shut it!'

President Shinra yawned.

'You are beginning to bore me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I am – as I'm sure you can appreciate – a very busy man, and I have an important dinner I must attend.'

'Dinner?' spat Barret. 'Don't gimme _that_! I ain't finished with you yet!'

'But don't worry, I've made preparations for a playmate for you all.'

Before Barret could retort, their attention was diverted by a low rumbling sound. The bridge underneath their feet trembled slightly. James leant against the railings and looked down. If one of them fell…

'What _is_ that?' cried Amy.

'Meet Airbuster, a techno-soldier. Our weapons department was able to create him. I can imagine that the data he will extract from your dead bodies will be of great use to us in our future experiments,' explained President Shinra.

'….Techno-soldier?'

'Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go.'

A helicopter came flying down and landed on the path where President Shinra was standing, as James started to run over to it, one arm outstretched.

'President, wait!'

But it was too late, for he had already entered the helicopter, which had started its ascent into the air. James, Amy and Barret all retreated, until they were back to back.


	7. Airbuster

Airbuster moved swiftly along the bridge at them, separating the three. Barret and Amy were stuck on one side of the bridge, in front of Airbuster, and James was on his own, behind the machine.

'This is from SOLDIER?' queried Amy, sounding distinctly unimpressed.

'No way!' retorted James, 'this is just a machine.'

'Well, whatever the hell it is, I'm gonna bust it up!' snapped Barret, moving a step closer to it.

Amy was the first on the attack, coming right up close to the machine, and punching it hard, hurting her knuckles on the metal. She then followed through with a sharp kick. All Barret was able to do was shoot, since Amy had only given James one of the small magical orbs she had bought before getting on the train.

When Barret retreated to a safe distance after shooting, Airbuster loomed forwards, piling right into both Amy and Barret, who were nearly knocked over from the force.

James stepped forwards as bright green flames circled around him and another lightning bolt came crashing down onto the machine. Amy, seeing how effective James' magic was, waited until Airbuster had revolved and was now facing James, and then made an assault of her own.

The same flames that had encircled James when fighting against the Guard Scorpion had now appeared around her as she held her arms out, slowly moving them out to the sides, before clasping her hands to her chest and then stretching them out to Airbuster. The metal of the machine glowed red for a few seconds as it was heated up from the fire that Amy had summoned.

Airbuster leant forwards slightly, and then shot with its rear gun, the bullets pounding into Barret's body. He wobbled around dangerously on one foot as he lifted the other leg, to try and ease the pain in his ankle, not wanting to place much pressure on it.

'I'll be okay,' he said to Amy, who had just opened her mouth to say something.

He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a grenade he had been carrying around with him, pulled the pin, and lobbed it carefully at Airbuster. It struck its target right on, the explosion echoing loudly. James had jumped back slightly, to avoid being struck by Airbuster as it rushed forwards at him.

Instead of allowing James to make his attack, Airbuster rushed at him again, catching him hard in the shins. He stumbled a bit and nearly fell down. He was in a crouch, holding at his shins, staring up angrily at the machine. The point of his Buster Sword was touching the ground as James failed to hold up the entire sword.

A surge of anger flooded his system as he straightened up, a slight maniacal glint in his eyes. More flames erupted from the ground at his feet, rising up almost past his had, but this time, they were not the same luminous green as before. The fire at his feet was a deep, dark blood red, gradually getting lighter, until the tips of the flames were yellow. They flickered and flashed around him for a second, whilst he prepared himself for his attack, still tightly gripping the Buster Sword's narrow handle.

He charged at Airbuster, his mighty sword dragging behind him, until he got closer and closer, and pulled it above his head, smashing the blade directly onto the mechanical foe. The momentum of his run ensured that his attack had more power behind it.

Sure enough, as the blade of the Buster Sword met Airbuster's steel hide, the entire thing jerked backwards away from James, and more towards Amy and Barret.

'It's nearly defeated!' exclaimed James to Barret and Amy. 'Quick, finish it off!'

But before either of them could make so much as a single move, Airbuster shot again with the rear guns, but this time the bullets hitting Amy. As soon as it had finished shooting, it immediately started to slowly turn on the spot, and then rushed at them, colliding into them both. Barret fell to his knees, injured badly.

'James, use the Cure materia Barret gave you earlier!' cried Amy. 'Don't worry about me; I'm fine, just heal Barret!'

James took a step forwards again, concentrating. The usual green flames sparked up around him, as he waved the Buster Sword around. He sheathed it, held his hands out to Barret and then pulled the Buster Sword out again. Tiny, minute green crystals materialised out of the air above Barret's head, and fell softly onto him, dissipating as they made contact with his skin. He managed to pull himself off his knees, and once again, stood proudly in the face of AVALANCHE's new adversary. He shot a few rounds at Airbuster, wondering how many bullets he had left.

Amy advanced, moving her arms about, summoning magic once more, as another flame burst from Airbuster's very core.

Within seconds, the machine had started to make its lifeless decent to the ground. James had sheathed his Buster Sword once more and was leaning against the barrier of the bridge, taking care not to look down, at the large drop into the Midgar slums.

As Airbuster struck the ground, the machine exploded, taking half the bridge out with it. Amy screamed and stumbled forwards, Barret holding onto her tightly, watching, as James fell forwards.

He was expecting to have plummeted right down, but fortunately, one of his flailing hands grasped the edge, clinging on tightly with one arm.

'James!' shrieked Amy. 'James, just hold one!'

'I'll try…'

'Barret, _do something!'_ she yelled at him, looking furiously at the large black man.

'Sorry, but there ain't much I can do. How long do you think you can hold on for?'

'….Not that long, I'm starting to lose my grip…' replied James, distantly.

'Damn, don't you go and wuss out on me!' snapped Barret. 'Hang on just a bit longer; I'll see what I can do.'

Barret precariously leant forwards, outstretching his hand to James. But as his fingers came anywhere close to James, the ex-SOLDIER's grip slackened considerably, and he plunged down. Amy screamed, leaning forwards herself. Barret grabbed her around the waist and pulled her a safe distance away from the ledge, as they both watched him tumble down, out of sight.

* * *

James knew nothing for a while, and then when he was finally starting to come round, he heard voices, talking to him.

'_Are you okay? Can you hear me?'_

'Yeah…' James replied feebly.

'_Back then, you'd just be able to get away with skinned knees…_'

''Back then'? What do you mean?' James asked the darkness.

'_Never mind that, what about now? Can you get up?'_ asked the mysterious voice.

'Answer me!' demanded James. 'What do you mean by 'back then' and 'what about now'? Tell me!'

'_Don't worry about me,'_ the eerie voice told him. _'You just worry about yourself for now, alright?'_

'I'll try…'

'Oh!' gasped a new voice. This one was different to the mysterious voice, it was female. 'It moved!'

'_Heh, how about that?'_ whispered the mysterious voice. _'Take it slowly. Little by little…gently…' _

'Hello, hello?'

'Hey, who are you?' called out James, speaking to both the female and the mysterious voice. Anybody whom chose to answer.


	8. Turkish Delights

'Hello, hello!'

James opened his eyes and looked up to see a young woman standing over him. He surmised that she was obviously the female voice talking, but did not see anybody else. _Who the hell was the other person talking to me? _He asked himself. He examined this new girl critically.

She looked very young, as though she was in her early twenties. Her hair was waist length, and a light brown in colour. Two strands stuck out slightly and then fell down, concealing her cheeks. She brushed her hair out of her way, and reached back to feel the pale green jewel which was fastening her hair into a pony tail. She wore a strappy dress that was a light and pale pink in colour, with a darker pink jacket over the top. The jacket had short sleeves, and reached to just under her ribcage. At her wrists were thick, chunky silver bracelets. Her feet were covered by light brown boots. James vaguely recognised her.

'You okay?' she asked.

'I…I think so,' James replied.

'You came crashing through the roof. This is a church in the Sector 5 slums, you see,' she explained. 'You gave me quite a fright!'

'I came crashing through?'

'The roof and the flower bed you landed on must have broken your fall. You're very lucky!'

James looked around at what he was laying on. He saw the crumpled flowers surrounding him.

'Flower bed…..this is yours? I'm sorry.'

'It's okay,' the girl replies. 'The flowers here are pretty resilient, as this is a sacred place. They say that you can't grow things like grass and flowers in Midgar, but for some reason, they have no problem blooming here. I love it here.'

Her voice took on a slightly misty tone as she stared at the church. She shook her head and went back to nursing the remaining plants as James came over to her.

'So, we meet again,' she stated simply. 'Don't you remember me?'

James nodded.

'You do?' she sounded pleased by this.

James nodded again.

'Yeah, I remember you. You were the town drunk.'

He had meant for that to come out as a joke, but the girl seemed somewhat unimpressed. She gave him a cold look.

'Oh, how rude! I'll forgive you, since you bought a flower from me,' she beamed at him. 'Do you have any materia?'

James showed her the wrist of his right glove, so that she could see the glowing green ball.

'Some,' he told her. 'But nowadays, you can find materia anywhere. Just even lying around on the ground.'

'Mine's special,' said the flower girl, with a slightly reproachful look. 'It's good for absolutely nothing.'

'Good for nothing?...You probably don't really know how to use it,' suggested James.

'No, I do,' replied the girl. 'But, it just doesn't seem to do anything. It makes me feel safe, because it used to be my mother's. Say, I feel like talking. Do you? I mean, after all, here we are meeting again.'

'Yeah, fine. I don't mind,' said James.

'Okay, wait here a minute.'

With that, the flower girl turned away from James whilst she finished looking after the rest of the flowers in the church. James watched her as she worked, and made his way over to her again. She cast him a dismissive 'I'll only be a minute' before moving on again.

'Oh!' exclaimed the flower girl. 'We don't even know each other's names, do we? My name is Eve, and, obviously…I'm the flower girl.'

'James,' the ex-SOLDIER introduced himself, 'and me…I do a bit of everything.'

'Ahh…a jack of all trades.' Eve giggled.

'Yeah, I do whatever's neede-….why are you laughing?' he shot suspiciously at her. 'What's so funny?'

'Sorry,' apologised Eve, 'I just…'

Her voice trailed off as she saw a figure moving outside the church door. She faced James again, a look of badly concealed panic on her face. She reached down and picked up a staff that was lying on the ground.

'Say,' she brightly began, 'have you ever been a bodyguard? I mean, you _said_ that you do everything…'

'Yeah…'

'Well, in that case, _get me out of here!'_ she hissed at him in a low voice. 'Please. Take me home.'

'Alright, but it'll cost you,' retorted James. Eve thought for a minute.

'How about if I go out with you once?' she suggested.

James was now paying more attention to somebody else who had just come through the door and was walking between the pews. There were several other uniformed men behind them, dressed brightly in bright blue and black.

The only one that was not wearing that uniform seemed to be wearing one of a different sort. He had dark hair, perhaps red, perhaps brown. It was fairly long, and needed to be scraped back into a ponytail. His clothes were a mess. His white shirt was untucked, and the top two buttons were undone. He had a royal blue blazer over the top of his wrinkled shirt which were the same colour as his trousers. His shoes were black.

'I don't know who you are but…..' he faltered. 'You don't know me…?'

There was a blinding flash of white light in James' head, which lasted for less than a split second.

'_I know you…'_

'Oh yeah, I know you.' James' voice had turned to disgusted. 'That uniform…'

The badly dressed man shot James a strange look.

'Hey sis, this one's a little weird.'

'Shut up!' James shot at him. 'You Shinra spy!'

'Tom,' called one of the Shinra soldiers. 'Shall we take him out for you?'

Tom gave James a thoughtful look.

'Hmmm…I'm not sure. I haven't decided yet.'

'Don't you dare fight here!' exclaimed Eve, glaring at Tom. 'You'll ruin the flowers! Go somewhere else, the exit is back there.'

She cast a hand behind her. She and James made their way to the next area of the church, leaving Tom with the three Shinra soldiers. Tom was still looking thoughtfully at where James had exited with Eve.

'Those eyes…they were…._Mako eyes_.' Tom shook his head and turned back to the Shinra soldiers. 'Alright you lot, back to work.'

He took a step forwards, and then stopped abruptly. He turned back to the trio.

'And…don't step on the flowers,' he added as an after thought. The soldiers stared at his feet.

'Hey Tom, you just stepped on 'em!'

'They're all ruined!'

'You're gonna catch holy hell!'

Tom rolled his eyes sarcastically to himself and moved quickly away.

* * *

James and Eve were in the back of the church. There were a number of ramps and ledges which led to the top, just underneath the roof, where there were sturdy wooden beams, with several barrels stood at certain points.

The pair proceeded to a higher level of the church when Tom and the three Shinra soldiers came after them.

'There! They're over there! Don't let them get away!' ordered Tom, pointing up at them both.

'What are we going to do?' asked Eve, gaping at James.

'Well, do you want them to catch us?' he asked. Eve shook her head. 'Then all we can do is get the hell out of here!'

James jumped over a small gap to the next platform, Eve lingering behind.

'Come on Eve, this way!'

She merely looked at him as though he was mad. Her gaze fell down to ground level where Tom and the Shinra soldiers were watching, coming closer.

'Alright, alright, I'll hold them off!' called James to her.

'Right!' replied Eve, 'please, just make sure that they don't get through!'

'I won't.'

'_She's getting away! The Ancient is getting away!'_ screamed Tom, pointing at Eve and yelling furiously at the soldiers. 'Attack! Attack!'

They raised their rifles and shot madly at her, coming close to hitting her with the bullets. She screamed loudly and slid back down to a lower level, further away from James and closer to Tom, the Turk.

'_Eve!'_ called James, leaning as close to the edge of the platform he was on as possible.

'Do you think we killed her?' asked Tom, looking at Eve's form on the level above. 'Oh well. As far as I'm concerned, they shouldn't have put up a fight!'

'James, help me!' called Eve, getting back to her feet.

He looked up and saw the barrels on the beams. He got an idea, and ran up to the higher level, over to the barrels.

The flower girl turned to the soldier who was creeping up on her left, closer and closer.

'Eaygh!'

James was looking at the position of Eve and the soldier, and selected a barrel…


	9. Escorted Home

Eve stopped slowly backing away as a heavy barrel came crashing down from above, landing just in front of her, and rolling down the ramp, crushing the soldier. As soon as the barrel came to a halt on the wall, the second soldier was revealed to be creeping up to her again. The third, unbeknownst to Eve, was taking a different route, by awkwardly climbing up to a higher level, so that he could sneak up behind Eve.

'James, help me!' she cried again.

She looked up to James again, to see what he was doing. He was stalking the soldier from above, eyes on him like a hawk, seeing his position, choosing another barrel. A few seconds later, there was another loud thump as he pushed it, knocking the second soldier back down.

Eve turned around to continue getting away from Tom, and saw the final remaining soldier grinning at her. She screamed loudly, in shock and took a few hurried steps back.

' – James!' she cried.

He threw over the final barrel, which landed directly on the soldier's head. He fell down, unconscious as Eve sidestepped around him. She yelled up a thank you to James, and then followed the path he had taken, meeting up with him and walking carefully on the narrow wooden beams.

'Come on, this way,' he told her, with a nod of his head.

He took a slow walk to a small gap in the very roof of the church, glancing back occasionally to make sure that Eve was not about to fall down. He clambered through the little hole, and reached back to assist her. When they got out, she giggled to herself.

'Ha ha, they're looking for me yet again,' she said.

'What?' asked James, goggling. 'You mean this isn't the first time they've tried to come and get you?'

'No, it's not,' Eve replied.

'You _do_ realise that they're the Turks, don't you?' he queried. Eve made a thoughtful noise in reply. 'They're an organisation in Shinra, who go around scouting for possible candidates for SOLDIER.'

'They do it _that_ violently? Good Lord, I thought they were trying to kidnap somebody, not recruit them!'

'Yeah, well, they're also involved in a lot of dirty stuff on the side. Spyin', murder, the works. That might explain it.'

'They certainly appear to be the type,' she agreed.

'But, why are they after you?' asked James, confused. 'I'm guessin' there's an actual _reason_.'

'All I know is that I definitely _don't_ want to get caught by those people!'

'Well then, let's get out of here.'

The small, shabby houses in the slums were all built close together, so it did not take much for the pair to jump from rooftop to rooftop. Eve tried to keep up with James, but he was going too fast and ended up leaving her a few houses behind. She shouted at him to slow down.

'Hold on! _Wait a minute!' _James stopped and waited for her to catch up with him. She stopped before him, hands on her knees and bent double, wheezing. 'Don't….leave…me.'

'Hmm, and _I_ thought you were cut out to be in SOLDIER,' he remarked.

'Oh, you're horrible!' replied Eve jokingly, laughing. '….Were you ever in SOLDIER?'

'I…I used to be,' started James, surprised. 'But how did you guess?'

'…Nothing, it doesn't matter,' replied Eve, avoiding James' gaze.

'Nothing?'

'Right! Nothing! Come on, let's go bodyguard,' she said, rapidly changing the subject.

After walking for a bit more, they finally managed to make it off the rooftops and onto the road. Eve looked around and spotted a middle aged man heading over to them.

'Finally made it! My house is over there,' she announced, smiling at James and pointing. The smile faded. 'Quickly, before that man comes.'

James followed Eve to her house and stopped outside her door.

'Thanks for walking me home,' she said to him. 'So what are you going to do now?'

'I need to go somewhere, hopefully close to here.'

Eve just said 'oh' quietly and then opened the front door and held it open for James. There was another woman pacing around a small house, in the kitchen. She looked up as Eve and James entered.

'Hi Mum, I'm back. This is James, he's my bodyguard,' she said to the woman, pointing at the blonde next to her, who waved awkwardly.

The woman looked shocked.

'Bodyguard? Oh, don't tell me you were followed again!' she exclaimed.

'It's okay, nothing happened, because I had James looking after me.'

'Thank you James,' replied the woman, looking at him. She walked over, one hand outstretched. 'My name is Elmyra.'

'Nice to meet you.'

Elmyra turned her back and continued with what she was doing before Eve came back home. She turned to James.

'Where did you want to go?'

'Sector 7. Is it near here? I want to go to Seventh Heaven, Amy's bar,' he explained.

'Amy…that's a…girl, right?'

'….Yes,' stated James, giving Eve a strange look.

'A girlfriend?'

'Yeah, something like that.'

'That's….that's nice.' She tried to smile. 'Sector 7? Follow me, I'll show you the way, I think I know where it is.'

'What? No, no way, you've already been in danger once today. Why do you want to put yourself in even _more_ danger?'

'It's no big deal, I'm used to danger,' Eve said simply.

'_Used to it? _Well, I dunno, getting help from a girl…?'

'And what can you mean by that? Cheeky so and so! And you seriously expect me just to stay here and let you go out on your own after hearing something like that? No chance!' Eve called to Elmyra. 'Mum, I'm going out again for a while; I'm going to take James to Sector 7!'

Elmyra appeared briefly.

'Oh, I don't know if that's such a good idea, Eve,' she started. She stopped, rolling her eyes. 'I give up already, there's no point in changing your mind. You never do once you've decided on something. But at least wait until tomorrow, because it's starting to get dark now.'

'I suppose.'

'Good. Can you go upstairs and get the bed sorted out please?'

Eve merely shrugged and disappeared up the steps, James following. She stopped outside two bedroom doors and pointed at one.

'You're in there. Let me think…to get to Sector 7, you need to go to Sector 6, which is a little bit dangerous. You'll want to get some rest tonight, in that case. Good night.'

Without another word, she turned back into her own bedroom and closed the door, James left out on the landing.

'Aww, man…' he muttered to himself. He went into his own room and started to drift off to sleep.

'_You seem pretty tired.'_

'What the -!' exclaimed James, taken by surprise.

'_I haven't slept in a bed like this for a long time,'_ said the same mysterious voice that spoke to him before.

'Oh. Yeah….' James seemed to understand what the mysterious voice meant.

'_Ever since that time…'

* * *

_

_A younger version of James, lying on his bed, whilst his mother, a tall blonde woman who styled her hair in a spiked fashion, similar to James' bustled around. She watched him for a few seconds._

'_My, my, how you've grown. I won't be at all surprised if you say that the girls leave you alone.'_

'_Not really, girls don't bother me.'_

'_I'm worried about you, y'know,' James' mother came closer to him. 'There are a number of temptations in the city, and I'd just feel a lot better if you settled down, got yourself a nice girlfriend.'_

'_I'm not interested,' replied James in an irritated tone._

'_You should have…an older girlfriend, because an older girl can look after you. Make sure you're eating right, things like that,' his mother continued.

* * *

_

James sat up, rubbing his forehead.

'Damn, I must have fallen asleep,' he muttered to himself, clambering out of bed and sneaking out of the door. 'So…Eve said that Sector 7 is past Sector 6. I should be fine if I head over on my own.'

He took care to tread softly as he walked past Eve's room, keeping as far away from her door as possible, and then skulked down the stairs. Elmyra was still fast asleep; the downstairs level of the house was completely deserted.


	10. Where's Amy Going?

James walked swiftly and silently through the slums, getting closer to Sector 6. There was a large, graffiti covered wall between the two sectors, with a gap in, that looked like had been caused by a bomb. And right in the middle of the gap, with her hands on her hips and frowning slightly, was Eve.

'What the –?' started James, looking shocked.

'You're up early. Surprised to see me?' she asked. James nodded, still goggling at her. 'Well, I couldn't let you go on your own.'

'How could I ask you go along when I knew that it would be dangerous? I mean, you said it yourself that Sector 6 was dangerous!'

Eve did not look impressed, and merely cast him a bored look.

'Are you finished yet? Come on, let's go already!'

They made their way walking swiftly through Sector 6, until they came to a playground. At the far end of the playground was another wall, where there was the entrance to Sector 7, and a pathway which led to, according to Eve, a market. She pointed at the entrance.

'Well, there's Sector 7,' she stated.

'Thanks for showing me,' replied James. He looked at her. 'Well, I s'pose this is goodbye, then. Are you gonna be okay going back home?'

'Oh no, whatever will I do?' she asked, in a mock dramatic voice, pressing a hand to her forehead. 'That's what you want me to say, isn't it? I guess I _could_ go to Sector 7 with you, but will I be in your way?'

'What do you mean, "in your wa-"... .' started James.

'Nothing!' shot back Eve quickly. 'Nothing at all! Can we take a break, though?'

James nodded as the young woman walked away, over to a large slide, whilst muttering 'I can't _believe_ it's still here!' to herself. She climbed up the ladder and sat at the top, looking around her. James came over and sat on the slide next to her. He could feel her gaze on the back of his head.

'If you don't mind me asking…what rank were you?'

Eve's question shook James out of this thoughts.

'Huh? Rank? Oh, you mean in SOLDIER?' he asked. Eve nodded. He looked up at the sky for a minute, before replying 'First Class.'

Eve was sitting with her legs drawn close to her, resting her chin on her knees.

'Oh,' she murmured. 'That's just the same as him…'

'The same as who?' questioned James, intrigued.

'Oh, nobody of interest, it doesn't matter,' Eve said thoughtfully. 'Oh, okay. My first boyfriend.'

'Were you serious?' James questioned.

'No,' she told him, ignoring his nosiness. 'But I did like him for a while.'

'Tell me his name,' demanded James, 'chances are, I knew who he was.'

'…..Honestly, it really doesn't matter.'

The gate to Sector 7 opened, and a cart, being pulled by horses, came rumbling through. James thought that, judging by the amount of livery and things on the sides, that it must be somebody important driving through the slums.

Therefore, he was very surprised when he saw the figure in a deep blue strappy dress standing in the back, was none other than Amy.

'What the hell!' exclaimed James. 'Look, in the back there, that's Amy! Where's she going?'

'Oh, so _that's_ Amy? What's she doing? She looked kind of odd…'

She slid down the slide and followed the cart, which was driving into the market.

'Eve!' cried James, going after her. 'Where are you going? Come back! I'll go on my own, you get yourself home!'

Eve ignored him and continued chasing after the cart. She stopped at the start of the market, where there were lots of shops, all with brightly glowing neon lights, telling visitors the shop's name. James came up behind Eve, who was looking around at their surroundings. She heard James' footsteps behind her and turned back to look at him.

'This place can be scary, especially if you're a girl. So it'd be a good idea to find Amy, and fast!'

They started to make their way through the market, when Eve looked to her right and saw a building all on its own, out of the way, but with a crowd of people hovering outside the front door.

'Let's try that place first, you never know, they might've seen Amy's cart,' said Eve, grabbing James by the hand and pulling him over.

They looked up at the brightly glowing sign. It read 'Honeybee Inn'. James started to stride purposefully towards what looked like a club bouncer, when Eve held him back and said that she would try and get some information.

'They probably won't respond very well if you yell at them,' whispered Eve. She raised her voice again as she addressed the bouncer. 'Excuse me, but did you see a cart go through here? A woman was riding in the back, wearing a blue strappy dress, and she had long, dark hair. Her name's Amy…?'

'Damn,' replied the bouncer. 'You're fast. Amy's our newest girl. All of our girls need to go to the Don's mansion at the other end of the market for an interview, before they can come back and work here. So she's probably with him at the moment.'

'Excellent, thank you very much,' said Eve gratefully, pulling James back with her, away from the Honeybee Inn.

'The Don's mansion?' he shot at her, puzzled.

'Yep! Come on, follow me!' Without another look back, she ran off again.

They sprinted past what looked like weapons shops, armour shops, restaurants, hotels, and all sorts of other places, until the number of buildings started to thin. Finally, when there were no more shops and inns, there was just a large mansion. James and Eve marched right up to the front door and burst through, into what looked like an entrance hall. There was a solitary man standing, guarding a set of double doors behind him. James decided to try and march through.

'Who's this Don person I've heard about?' he snapped at the man.

'Don Corneo is a big shot here in Wall Market, and this is his mansion. I can also reliably inform you that he ain't into men, so, scarper!' His eyes rested on Eve. 'Hey, you got a cute one with you!'

She gave him a look, and pulled James back, where they started talking in a low voice, so that they would not get overheard.

'Well, it looks like this is the place. I'll go on ahead, and tell Amy about you,' she told him.

James held her back.

'No, you can't!'

'And why not?'

'Erm….you _do_ realise….what kind of place this is….don't you?' he hazarded.

'Well, what do you want me to do, James? You want to get Amy back, and the easiest way would be me to go in, but you don't want that. You want to go in with me?'

'Well, considering I'm a man, that might just be a little bit difficult,' retorted James. 'It'll cause too much commotion if I just bust in there. Damn it, we _need_ to find out whether Amy's okay!'

James paused and stared at Eve, who was desperately trying to keep a straight face and failing miserably.

'…What's so funny?' he asked, in a tone that clearly said he was expecting some ominous reply. Eve started to laugh uproariously.

'Why don't you dress up as a girl? It's the only way you'll get in.'

There was a second's silence whilst the last two sentences Eve had uttered sunk in.

'_WHAT?'_


End file.
